Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
The following is a timeline which summarizes the genesis and evolution of government provided health insurance in the United States. Major Foreign Events: 1883: Otto von Bismark, then Chancellor of Germany passes a compulsory health insurance bill for factory and mine workers 1911: Germany extends compulsory insurance coverage to almost all employees 1911: David Lloyd…
Fabio Bertranou (1999) in his article in Health Policy gives a concise summary of attempted health insurance reforms in Latin America in the 1980s and 1990s. He looks at three cases: Chile’s reform in the 1980s and Argentina’s and Colombia’s reforms in the 1990s. He cites three major issues each nation faces: Does open enrollment…
In the âCapitalism: The Movieâ? in the March 2006 Atlantic Monthly, writer Clive Cook examines why many of Hollywood’s recent releases have been anti-capitalist. Hollywood simply assumes that the public will run to see free-market bashing movies such as: Syriana, Fun with Dick and Jane, Wall Street, Erin Brockovich, The Insider, etc. Why? Cook claims…
Thursday’s edition of the New York Times contained an article (“British Clinic is Allowed to Deny Medicine“) describing how a British court ruled that local health authorities could deny coverage of a breast cancer medicine since it was not yet approved. The drug in question is Herceptin. “Herceptin, made by Roche, is currently licensed for…
The design of legislation which regulates Medicaid eligibility creates a poverty trap. In California, generally those who have income below 250% of the federal poverty level and who have limited assets are eligible for Medicaid. (In reality California’s Medicaid eligibility is more complicated than this. For full details of eligibility requirements see âMedi-Cal Facts and…
While most Americans envy the Canadian single payer system, Canadians may be looking south for inspiration to reform their health care system. Today’s Vancouver Sun reports that: British Columbia’s Liberal government is launching a sweeping review of medicare, promising to let citizens decide if they want a health care system that might feature even more…
Forbes magazine reports that William W. McGuire, CEO of UnitedHealth Group) received compensation of $124.8 million in 2005. Managed Care Magazine also says that the average executive compensation (excluding unexercised stock options) for an executive of a ‘top 10 for profit health plan’ was $11.7 million and that was back in 2000. Are these high…
Passed in 1978, Proposition 13 was a ballot initiative to amend the state constitution to limit property taxes to a 1% of a homes value. The amendment also capped the annual growth rate in property value assessment at 2% per year until the house is resold. Â William Fischel (1989) argues in âDid Serrano Cause…
One key parameter of interest to policymakers is the firms elasticity of offering health insurance with respect to price. This is an important question because the current tax exemption of employee compensation in the form health insurance in essence changes the price of health insurance. A large—in absolute value—elasticity would imply that the tax subsidy…
Difference in Difference (DD) is a commonly used empirical estimation technique in economics. Let us take a hypothetical example where a state (Wisconsin) passes a bill which makes employer-provided health insurance tax deductible. Let us also assume that in the year after the bill passed (year 2) the percentage of firms offering health insurance increased…